Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-10-01
. III -
4 HISTORY OF ADVENTURE
BY Fl. RIDER HAGGARD.

above swallowed up its brightness, and
presently we began TO pass through u cut
ting hewn in the living rock. Deeper and
deeper grew this marvellous work, which
must, | should say. nave employed thou
sands Of men for many years, Indeed, how
It was ever executed at all without the aid
Of blasting-powder or dynamite ! can not
to this day imagine. 1t is and must re-
main one of the mysteries of this wild
land. can only suppose that these cut
tings and the vast caves that had been hol-
lowed out OF the rocks il pierced We're the
state undertakings OF the people of kor,
who lived here in the dim lost ages OF the
world, and, as in the case of the Egyptian
monuments. were executed by the forced
labor Of tens of thousands Of captives, car
ried on through an indefinite number of
centuries. But who We're the people?
At last we reached the face of the preci-
pice itself, and found ourselves looking
into the mouth of a dark tunnel that forci-
bly, reminded me Of those undertaken by
our nineteenth entury engineers in the
construction of railway lines, Out Of this
tunnel flowed a considerable stream Of
water. Indeed, though do not think that
] have mentioned it, we had followed this
| stream, which ultimately developed into the
river / nave already described as winding
away to the right from the spot where the
cutting in the solid rock commenced. Half
| of this cutting formed a channel for the
stream, and half, which was placed on q
slightly higher l~evel-eight feet, perhaps
was devoted To the purposes OF a roadway.
At the termination of the cutting, how
ever, the stream turned off across the plain
| and followed n channel of its own AT the
mouth of the cave the cavalcade was
| halted, and while the men employed them
selves in lighting some earthenware lamps
they had brought with them, Billali, de-
scending from his litter, informed me po-
litely but firmly hat the orders OF She
were that we were now TO be blindfolded,
so that we should not learn the secret OF
the paths through the bowels of the noun
tains. TO this ] Of course assented cheer
fully enough, but Job, who was now very
much better. Notwithstanding the journey,
did not like il ut all, fancying, | believe,
that ii was but q preliminary step TO being
hot-potted. He was, however, a little con-
soled when ] pointed ont TO him that there
were no hot pots handy, and, SO far as |
knew, no fire To heat them in. AS for poor
Leo. after turning restlessly for hours, he
had, to my deep thankfulness, at last
dropped Off into a sleep or stupor, ] don't
know which, 50 there was ne need 10 blind
fold him. The blindfolding was performed
by binding a piece of the yellowish linen
whereof those Of the Amahagger who o
descended to wear anything in particular
made their dresses, tightly round the eyes.
This linen, ! afterward discovered, was
taken from the toinbS. and was not, as |
had at first supposed, Of native manufac-
ture. The bandage was then knotted Mt
the back Of the head, and finally brought
down again, and the ends bound under the
chin to prevent its slipping. Ustane was,
NY the way, also blindfolded. / do not
know why, unless it was from fear that she
should impart the secrets OF the route To
us. This operation performed, we started
on once more, INC soon, by the echoing
sound Of the footsteps Of the bearers and
the increased noise Of the water caused by
reverberation in a confined space, ! knew
that we were entering into the bowels OF
the great mountain. 1t was an eerie sen
mtion, being borne along into the heart of
q mountain we knew not whittier, but ]
was getting used 10 cerie sensations by
this time, and by now was pretty we'll pre-
pared for anything. SO ! lay still, and
listened to the tramp, tramp, of The bearers